It is counter-intuitive. Most of its other weapons are quite long ranged; 30" for the SMS, 48" for the cluster rockets and 60" for the missiles. All of those won't be benefitting from the +1 to hit since you'll likely be running around.

That said, the price is significantly less than the Driver and even the 20" mode is, in my opinion, significantly better when considering power. It really is a tough list-building choice that forces you to consider your other units. Do you have the support for it to move up the field? Could you support it if it stayed back? Do you have other units that can reach the enemy's back lines or should the Stormsurge fill that role? And of course there's the points cost.

Temennigru wrote:I have a question:Can I use the long range profile in close range?If I'm targeting MEQ for instance, I'd rather have more shots than higher AP

You can. The weapon profile reads "When attacking with this weapon, choose one of the profiles below". So at 18" you could use the Medium or Long Range profiles because either is within range. Similarly, at 5", you can choose between all three.

The simple reason is, if you have a Stormsurge, you want it to kill stuff. It can move, so long as its anchors are up; putting it somewhere and anchoring down pretty much guarantees that your opponent's big stuff will have to either go after it or get out of its 15" range, which turns it into either a massive sponge soaking up enemy aggro or, better yet, a 30" bubble in which nothing really wants to be. A unit that punishes the opponent for ignoring it or focusing on it has a lot of utility.

Moreover, the fact is, in this edition a tankbuster with 3+ to hit, D3 shots, and random damage just... isn't that great. Yeah, the lumbering monstrosity will have trouble getting into 10" range for that sweet, sweet 6 damage shot, but even the Medium profile is great (4 shots at 3 fixed damage, still with good AP), and it has a pretty solid threat range (certainly in line with every other good shooter in our army). With the Blastcannon, it can be used as a heavy-hitting lightningrod by going midfield or it can protect your blob from getting killed by deepstrikers with an EWO. With the Pulse Driver, it can... sit in the back and MAYBE make a dent on the enemy's tanks while being mostly safely ignored.

It's a weird case where the cheaper weapon is almost always better than the more expensive option... kinda like the Acid Spray for a Tyrannofex. You sacrifice range for firepower, but that kind of range is at odds with the rest of the army so it's best to just go with the higher-damage option which gives better synergy at a lower cost.

Zadocfish wrote:The simple reason is, if you have a Stormsurge, you want it to kill stuff. It can move, so long as its anchors are up; putting it somewhere and anchoring down pretty much guarantees that your opponent's big stuff will have to either go after it or get out of its 15" range, which turns it into either a massive sponge soaking up enemy aggro or, better yet, a 30" bubble in which nothing really wants to be. A unit that punishes the opponent for ignoring it or focusing on it has a lot of utility.

Moreover, the fact is, in this edition a tankbuster with 3+ to hit, D3 shots, and random damage just... isn't that great. Yeah, the lumbering monstrosity will have trouble getting into 10" range for that sweet, sweet 6 damage shot, but even the Medium profile is great (4 shots at 3 fixed damage, still with good AP), and it has a pretty solid threat range (certainly in line with every other good shooter in our army). With the Blastcannon, it can be used as a heavy-hitting lightningrod by going midfield or it can protect your blob from getting killed by deepstrikers with an EWO. With the Pulse Driver, it can... sit in the back and MAYBE make a dent on the enemy's tanks while being mostly safely ignored.

It's a weird case where the cheaper weapon is almost always better than the more expensive option... kinda like the Acid Spray for a Tyrannofex. You sacrifice range for firepower, but that kind of range is at odds with the rest of the army so it's best to just go with the higher-damage option which gives better synergy at a lower cost.

The difference is the pulse driver cannon has a 72" range, so you can just leave it anchored behind cover and keep popping the enemy tanks.

Temennigru wrote:The difference is the pulse driver cannon has a 72" range, so you can just leave it anchored behind cover and keep popping the enemy tanks.

well... "popping" average 1.5 (D3 would be 2, but 50% to 16% with anchors down and 5 ML to miss) shots of 3.5 damage (d6) for 5.25 average damage.. ranging from 1-18 possible damage

Yup. Using the range on the Driver cannon is putting you outside the range of several of your other weapons (Cluster rockets are 48", SMS is 30", Burst Cannons are 18"), you're paying a premium price in points for outputting far less damage and making a much smaller difference in the battle.

Temennigru wrote:The difference is the pulse driver cannon has a 72" range, so you can just leave it anchored behind cover and keep popping the enemy tanks.

well... "popping" average 1.5 (D3 would be 2, but 50% to 16% with anchors down and 5 ML to miss) shots of 3.5 damage (d6) for 5.25 average damage.. ranging from 1-18 possible damage

Yup. Using the range on the Driver cannon is putting you outside the range of several of your other weapons (Cluster rockets are 48", SMS is 30", Burst Cannons are 18"), you're paying a premium price in points for outputting far less damage and making a much smaller difference in the battle.

It puts you out of range if you are firing it at the same target. The rockets can serve as area denial and the pulse driver can serve as artillery.But it is overpriced though. It has the same stats as the demolisher cannon and costs double the points. I would put it at fixed 6 damage and leave the points as they are.

pumaman1 wrote:well... "popping" average 1.5 (D3 would be 2, but 50% to 16% with anchors down and 5 ML to miss) shots of 3.5 damage (d6) for 5.25 average damage.. ranging from 1-18 possible damage

Yup. Using the range on the Driver cannon is putting you outside the range of several of your other weapons (Cluster rockets are 48", SMS is 30", Burst Cannons are 18"), you're paying a premium price in points for outputting far less damage and making a much smaller difference in the battle.

It puts you out of range if you are firing it at the same target. The rockets can serve as area denial and the pulse driver can serve as artillery.But it is overpriced though. It has the same stats as the demolisher cannon and costs double the points. I would put it at fixed 6 damage and leave the points as they are.

If they put it at 6, the the blast cannon would need a big boost as well.

Zadocfish wrote:Yup. Using the range on the Driver cannon is putting you outside the range of several of your other weapons (Cluster rockets are 48", SMS is 30", Burst Cannons are 18"), you're paying a premium price in points for outputting far less damage and making a much smaller difference in the battle.

It puts you out of range if you are firing it at the same target. The rockets can serve as area denial and the pulse driver can serve as artillery.But it is overpriced though. It has the same stats as the demolisher cannon and costs double the points. I would put it at fixed 6 damage and leave the points as they are.

If they put it at 6, the the blast cannon would need a big boost as well.

Given that the blastcannon is 6, I think it would be better to make the driver cannon 2d6. I would also half again the ranges on the driver cannon, since 30 inches max range is silly for a "starship weapon"